QUEZON CITY, 15 February 2017 – On the seventh year of the Social Pension program, Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) and Confederation of Older Persons Associations of the Philippines (COPAP) and other Civil Society groups urge the government to expand social pension by immediately providing PhP 500 monthly to all senior citizens, and later on, increase this amount to PhP1,500. A new report published today by COSE and HelpAge International explains that this is feasible.
Social Watch Philippines, the Freedom from Debt Coalition and Dignidad, a multi-sectoral coalition, join COSE and COPAP in pushing for a Universal Social Pension that would close the gap in the pension coverage of the Filipino elderly and reduce poverty and inequality in the country.
Noting that income poverty covers about one fourth the population, while self-rated poverty about half, Dr. Ma. Victoria Raquiza of Social Watch Philippines observes that, “either way, the Filipino poor, which includes the older persons, is not a small or residual category. As such, it’s high time we begin to explore more universal, rather than just targeted, approaches.”
A universal approach will cover all senior citizens while providing security, particularly those in the informal sector, as compared to the current targeted social pension which has proven to be highly inadequate.
Pension in the last six years
Many Filipinos lack income security as they get older. In 2016, only 29% or 2.3 million out of 8 million senior citizens received pension (SSS, GSIS and others) based on their previous working history.
The social pension for the indigent poor made an important dent on reducing pension coverage gap, with 16% or 1.4 million beneficiaries in 2016, and additional 17% in 2017. However, when the coverage of all these schemes are combined, there would still be around 3 million or 38% of senior citizens with no pension at all.
“The current scheme of the program, which only targets indigent senior citizens, leaves significant share of older population who spent much of their lives in the informal sector, living above poverty line but with inadequate and irregular income to save sufficiently for old age or contribute to SSS. The benefit level of PhP 500 is also too low to provide a minimum level of security,” says Emily Beridico, Executive Director of COSE.
Impacts of Universal Social Pension
The key benefit of a Universal Social Pension is that all older Filipinos will be assured of a pension, ensuring dignity to old age while boosting a wider set of development outcomes.
Other findings show that it can reduce child labor, increase school enrollment, and support families to invest in livelihood activities.
“A PhP 1500 pension for all older persons could lift almost three million Filipinos out of poverty while it will systematically reduce inequality in the long run. This is aligned with the 10-point economic agenda of the Duterte Administration that includes reducing poverty levels to 17% by 2022,” explains Aura Sevilla, co-author of the study and COSE Project Coordinator.
Affordability of Universal Social Pension
The calculated levels of expenditure are seen to be modest compared to the significant budget allocated to pensions for sectors including the armed forces, police and judges – or the Pension Gratuity Fund (PGF).
A universal social pension of PhP 1,500 (a fewer below the 2014 poverty line) will cost PhP 143 Billion or 1% of GDP, or 5% of government expenditure.
The approved budget to PGF increased from P110 billion in 2016 to PhP 142.3 billion in 2017 (an estimated 0.89% of GDP), which only covers around 3% of all older population in the country. This is significantly higher than the PhP 17.9 billion (0.11% of GDP) allocated for the old age social pension in 2017.
“In the short term, the PhP 32.3 billion increase in PGF and the current 2017 budget of 18 billion for social pension, if summed up, would be more than sufficient to fund a universal pension of PhP 500 for all older people, closing the coverage gap while gradually increasing to PhP 1500,” Beridico suggests.
Government owes it to the older persons
“Lahat kaming nakatatanda ay nag-ambag sa ating lipunan buong buhay namin; hindi lamang ang mga retiradong empleyado, militar at pulis. Dapat maging mga milyun- milyong overseas Filipino workers, nasa informal sector at unpaid family work ay magkaroon rin ng pensyon,” (All senior citizens have made contributions to society throughout our lives, not only retired employees, military officers and policemen. Millions of overseas Filipino workers, in the informal sector and unpaid family workers who reached old age should also receive pension), Dioscoro Benalla, President of COPAP laments.
Republic Act No. 9994 mandates Congress to review the social pension provision every two years, but this has never been undertaken.
“It is about time Congress takes action on this long overdue measure so that no Filipino elderly will be put behind,” says Ako Bicol Partylist Representative Rodel Batocabe.